Soun Saing, 46, "moved to Canada as a refugee from Cambodia in the late 1980s. Saing, who was unemployed, lived with his wife and teenage children in a third-floor apartment above [a Hamilton] pool hall. Minutes before Friday's shooting, Saing walked into the empty pool hall and approached operator Gord Tekatch. Tekatch, who said he'd never met Saing and didn't know he lived upstairs, had seen the stranger enter the hall twice before in recent weeks. Saing pulled a hatchet and rushed the counter swinging the weapon. He struck his 62-year-old victim a few glancing blows, then stopped suddenly and recoiled when he saw blood streaming down Tekatch's face from a cut on his forehead. Tekatch picked up the phone to call police and Saing turned around and walked down the stairs to the street below." (Hamilton Spectator, April 9, 2007) He then tried to enter the first-floor Taps Tavern and Eatery but found the door locked. A bartender instructed patrons inside to take cover behind the bar. And then the police arrived.

"Lawyer Dean Paquette, who is representing the two officers involved ... said Saing held the hatchet up with the blade facing forward and pointed the blade of the knife down as he approached police. The two shot when he refused repeated orders to stop. Both officers fired their weapons. It's not clear if one or both struck Saing. Paquette said Saing was 'going rapidly' toward one officer and was within about three metres when he was shot. The other officer had partially shielded himself behind a car. Tom Andrew, executive officer of the Hamilton Police Association, said officers were left with no choice but to protect themselves and those around them. Saing's family has complained that police should have attempted to only wound him." (Hamilton Spectator, April 10, 2007)

"'We still do not understand how this could have happened,' said Sam Oeur, Saing's brother-in-law. He said Saing was a quiet man who carried a brown Bible with him almost everywhere he went. 'He took it with him to the park or to the mall,' said Oeur. Saing had been out of work for nearly two years after leaving his job at an Oakville factory that manufactured sporting equipment. He told friends and family that he quit the job he had held for 10 years after getting into a fight with his boss. 'He worked hard, but said he could never please them,' said [family friend Chhuon] Yin. 'He thought they looked down on him because of his accent.'" (Hamilton Spectator, April 9, 2007)

Had Mr. Saing not been a Cambodian refugee, carrying a small brown Bible everywhere he went would have marked him out as an unhinged nutter. Twenty years in Canada and still having trouble with English? Another refugee selection disaster!

[This story will appear in the Crime Watch section of the Canadian Immigration Hotline, Canada’s premier immigration reform newsletter this month. The Canadian Immigration Hotline is published monthly and costs $30.00 per year by subscription, Send your check or VISA to Canadian Immigration Hotline, P.O. Box 332, Rexzdale, ON., M9W 5L3, Canada.]